Chapter 289: TAS

289 – TAS

Wow. Yamada-kun is totally going for it. He’s more aggressive than I had expected. Shockingly so.

As for what happened, Yamada-kun’s party arrived at the elf village before our Demon King’s Army – they got ahead of us, basically. Like, I don’t really get it. After all, the Kingdom that Yamada-kun was in is in a different continent to the elf village, you know? Just moving around should be pretty time consuming, especially now when Yamada-kun and co are currently on the international wanted list for being the masterminds behind the coup d’état in the Kingdom. In a situation where normally you wouldn’t be able to move, taking the quick decision of “let’s go to the elf village!” seems a somewhat unbelieveable route to go down. Aren’t you a bit too decisive?

Or rather, stop him already, Kuro. Consider what I wanted to achieve by restricting Yamada-kun’s movements. It was to prevent the worst case scenario where the Hero Yamada-kun defeats the Demon King, right. What the heck is with you going along with the mood and saying “Alrighty, I’ll go too!”, eh? That jerk, I bet he knowingly induced Yamada-kun. Next time we meet I’ll smack him down.

Still, I have to be impressed I guess. Yamada-kun’s Divine Protection of Heaven is amazing. After all, normally there’s no way he could have made it in time. It’s not just that there wasn’t enough time, but with all the obstructions around them even just getting to the elf village shouldn’t have been possible. Despite all that, Yamada-kun and co arrived at the elf village before us. They couldn’t have achieved that without taking the shortest and best route. In addition to combining all their abilities, they would have needed good luck piled on top of good luck. I’m sure that’s all down to Yamada-kun’s Divine Protection of Heaven.

There was practically no time to spare. Even with using teleportation, it should have taken a minimum of 10-odd days to reach the elf village. For our Demon King’s Army and for the Imperial Army lead by Natsume-kun it would also take 10-odd days to arrive, or perhaps a bit more. It felt like even if they could take the shortest route they shouldn’t have made it in time. In addition, that was only provided that they would be able to take the shortest route. If they had started moving just a day later they would have failed, and if they had taken more time than planned while travelling they would also have failed. It was like a chess problem where they couldn’t afford a single mistake. However, it’s not like Yamada-kun actually realised just how tight a situation he was in though.

Moreover. To be able to cross from one continent to another, there is a place that you must go through. As I’m sure you’ve realised, that’s the Elro Great Labyrinth, the world’s largest labyrinth, where I was born and raised. As might be expected from it connecting continents, the scale is on a whole other level compared to ordinary labyrinths. Having to take the shortest path while conquering that Great Labyrinth readily indicates the degree of difficulty.

Still, it’s like this. Considering how much I suffered to be able to leave the Elro Great Labyrinth, seeing it conquered so easily gives an indescribable feeling. Humph! Even if you call that a conquest, Yamada-kun and co only passed through the upper layer anyway! I conquered the middle and lower layers as well! It seems that the upper layer has weakened. However, that was already the weakest layer in the Erlo Great Labyrinth. For it to be conquered so easily is a disgrace to the Elro Great Labyrinth. Or something like that! If you want to boast about it you better at least conquer the middle layer! ......I feel so empty. Nai wa. Yeah, nai wa......

Sigh. Well, since they’ve arrived already there’s no helping it. I’ll take action to prevent them from coming into contact with the Demon King as much as possible. To be honest, though Yamada-kun and co are scary in the sense that they might cause an unexpected situation, in terms of pure combat strength they’re nothing special. I’m sure even Natsume-kun would act as a decoy if they run into each other.

There is just one person that the Demon King and I are in conflict with. Potimas Hyphenath. For the first time since I became a god, I’m about to get serious too.

Translation notes:

“nice guy oji-sama who I somehow remember seeing somewhere before“ – naturally this is Basgas who she saw in chapter 127.

According to volume 5 of the LNs, the English romanisation of Potimas’s name should be “Potimas Harrifenas” – I’ve used the previous romanisation for consistency.

“I’m about to get serious too” – in the sense of using her true/full power.